


Bands of silver

by linascribbles



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Engagement Rings, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani and Nicky | Nicolò di Genova are in Love, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani is an Incurable Romantic, M/M, Pre-Canon, Rings, Soft Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, no beta we die like they don't
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:07:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28416603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/linascribbles/pseuds/linascribbles
Summary: Engagement rings can be traced all the way back to Ancient Rome.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 18
Kudos: 244





	Bands of silver

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I write for this fandom, hope I do these two justice.

The first time Nicolò asked Yusuf to marry him it was an accident.

They were in a market in what would much later become India, searching for nothing in particular and marvelling at everything when they came across a couple stands of metalworkers.

Their work was exquisite, and Yusuf couldn’t help to be reminded of the intricate mosaics of his home. Such painstaking work should be venerated and praised for its artistic prowess. He turned to say so to the vendor, who was looking at him with half distrust and half eagerness, no doubt thinking him a merchant who could give him the sale of the day. Yusuf was, after all, very well dressed and with a heavy purse after their latest profitable work and their surprisingly frugal lifestyle. A former priest and a trained merchant made not only for flexible standards in living arrangements but also incredible haggling abilities, who would have thought?

Yusuf leaned in on the wares and spoke to the vendor, praising his work and asking after his technique. The man’s initial reluctance was easily overcome with one of Yusuf’s easy smiles and a particular comment about the materials that made him understand he was closer to having a conversation with a peer than an overzealous admirer.

“They are very common in the west I hear,” the vendor told him after some time as Yusuf inspected a particularly twisted ring, too big for his liking but nevertheless impressive. He hummed in response, more than aware of the fact but not wanting to reveal it. “They are indeed. Between future spouses before marriage as an-” he cut himself off as the word got lost to him and he looked at Yusuf in the universal expression of  _ I almost have it _ . Yusuf took pity on him.

“Engagement,” he provided the world. “I’ve heard something about it.”

“Ah! So you know.” The vendor grinned, white teeth flashing against his tan skin and the sun. His eyes sparkled as he continued, “perhaps you have considered it for your beloved, waiting for you back home.”

_ Back to business,  _ Yusuf thought with a small smile,  _ he’s good. _

Beyond the attempt to confirm if he was a merchant on a business trip, and the beautifully provided excuse for the purchase, Yusuf’s mind wandered. Engagement rings were indeed popular in the west, they were used to announce an incoming marriage, to prevent clandestine unions to take place. He hid a snort at that, Nicolò and his union was nothing if not clandestine. And yet, his romantically inclined mind led him further down the slope of fantasy.

Engagement rings were common among Christians, he wondered if Nicolò had ever looked at one and thought of him. He foolishly wished he could gift one to Nicolò in mangni. To see his face as he saw it and the meaning of it dawned in him,  _ would he smile? _ That small, secretive smile that lived more in his eyes than his lips that Yusuf so loved?  _ Would he laugh? Would he say yes? _ He shook his head at the last one, in all it’s ridiculousness, they had been together for decades, they had promised each other forever numerous times, of course he’d say yes. The question was how. Would he kiss him, hug him as he often did? Lay him down to get lost in their love? Yusuf pictured their joined hands over rumpled sheets, matching rings glinting in their fingers and felt himself shiver at the same time that something hot and pleased curled itself inside him.

The vendor, having determined Yusuf to be trustworthy but also a slow buyer, stepped away from the stall, probably in search of a drink to quell his thirst on the hot day. Yusuf continued to peruse the glittering wares, eyes unseeing as he got lost in his domestic fantasy. How would Nicolò react to this big, cage-like construction?  _ Too flashy for him _ , he resolved, his love liked more subdued things. Maybe the thin silver band with a square pattern inlaid over it, that one was more likely.

He was broken from his musings by a soft touch on his shoulder. He turned around to see a reflection of his mind morphed into reality.

He came face to face with Nicolò, standing close and holding a ring in his palm, extended towards him, a question in his eyes. Mind still half-lost in his romantic dreamworld, Yusuf replied before he even worked out what exact question was being asked.

“My Nicolò, of course,” he said in Genovese, one of their two preferred languages and the least probably to be eavesdropped in the market even in this bustling port city.

Nicolò’s gaze flickered from his eager gaze to the ring as if he couldn’t understand such a love-filled answer to it before comprehension bloomed in his indescribable eyes and his small frown turned into astonishingly raised eyebrows. He looked back to Yusuf, incredulity coloring his gaze as it softened and that smile Yusuf had been fantasizing not minutes ago turned real.

“Yusuf,” he breathed out, their shared wonder floating between them and the ring that still laid on his palm.

“You know I would, my moon,” he tentatively said. “You are my everything, my heart, my moon, my guiding compass, without you I am lost and while we don’t need the world to recognize it for us to know it’s truer and more everlasting than any of this world’s possessions, please know I would. I would shout my love for you at the top of the tallest mountain so God and all of humanity knew how my heart beats for you, I would marry you one and a million times if it’s what you wanted, in each of my lifetimes.” 

Nicolò’s eyes were shiny, brimming with emotions and Yusuf knew it was costing him everything not to lean in and seal their promise with a kiss. He knew because he felt the same way.

“You hopeless romantic,” he chuckled, the sound slightly wet and so full of love that no language barrier could mask it. “I was just wondering if you’d like it.” He gestured to the ring as he laughed.

Only then did Yusuf take a proper look at the silver band and found that indeed, he liked it. The geometrical pattern in it was reminiscent of his home, which he and Nicolò had visited after their truce in Jerusalem, and it was the place where they had finally both made the leap to give themselves fully to the other.

He took a deep breath, fighting down another wave of emotion. He nodded, lips parting into a full smile.

“It’s perfect.” That got him another small smile. “Can I get you one as well?” he asked. Nicolò wasn’t one for ornaments, but the reason why he was asking wasn’t really an aesthetic matter. 

His love understood, because of course he did and nodded, eyes glinting with a heady mix of love, laughter and incredulity. Yusuf was well familiar with it by now. It was as if his love was saying something like  _ I can’t believe you went and fell in love with me, how embarrassing, you gorgeous fool, I can’t wait to spend the rest of my long immortal life loving you _ . It was one of Yusuf’s favourite looks.

He bought a ring for Nicolò, the vendor was thrilled, of course. It was the twisted simple band he had seen earlier, thin, subdued but strong and full of intricacies not immediately obvious, just like his Nicolò.

The rings became a recurrence, as time went by. To the point where it came a time that all the rings Yusuf had had been gifted by his beloved. Nicolò would always give them to him with that question in his eyes. They never could quite get married in the ways they had been taught mattered as children but as the centuries passed and they travelled, they found so many different rituals and ceremonies and unions that the formalities seemed to lose their loftiness to be replaced with the constant reaffirmation of waking up in each other’s arms every morning. After all, what was a proclaimed phrase against the steady rhythm of his soulmate’s heartbeat below his ear for a millennia?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr [@quiquimora](https://quiquimora.tumblr.com/)


End file.
